Constantly stimulating . . . A lateish-life appraisal of what Richard Sennett has read, written and, most vitally, witnessed on the street or in the marketplace in the tradition of the sharp-eyed, sharp-nosed flaneur taking in every sensation. -- Jonathan Meades * Guardian [for Buidling and Dwelling] *
Essential reading for all students of the city. -- Anna Minton * Prospect [for Building and Dwelling] *
A thoughtful writer with far-ranging interests and a keen eye for hidden patterns and complex processes that may escape the casual observer. He has always been a pleasure to read. * Wall St Journal [for Building and Dwelling] *
No one knows more than [Sennett] about cities and the efforts that have been made over the past two centuries to order and plan them to make them more liveable for their inhabitants. It is this eternally problematic relationship between the city's form - buildings, streets, highways, transport networks - and the quality of collective life it can offer its citizens, that has been at the heart of his life-long project as an urbanist and practising planner. -- Jerry White * Times Literary Supplement [for Building and Dwelling] *
In this very readable essay, Sennett pushes on the ideas he developed in his 'Uses of Disorder'. The upshot seems to be the 'open city'; the antithesis of places like New York's
Hudson Yards; a pre-determined, real-estate driven 'community' that can only degrade over time. Given contingent times, a necessary critical view of the modern urban realm. * RIBA Journal *
The promotion of this sense of impotence, and the resulting inertia, are encouraged by a patronising capitalist nanny state on behalf of corporations for whom profits, not people, matter. The only antidote to that inertia is surely to start planning the disorder promulgated by Sendra and Sennett. * Morning Star *
Timely and relevant...For both Sennett and Sendra, cities are at their best when they resist homogeneity and promote difference, and when they empower people to actively shape and reshape their built environment and its public uses. -- Eoin O Broin * Irish Times *
A bold invitation to take sides ... a city of power (Hudson Yards) versus a city of the people (the Garment District in New York City), before formulating the no less audacious goal of the book: to enable urban spontaneity by means of design -- Placido Gonzalez Martinez * Journal of Urban Design *
Evocatively, he paints a picture of brittle cities, which serve closed systems and whose buildings are destroyed rather than adapted as their use changes. -- Charmaine Chan * South China Morning Post *
This book can be seen as an ongoing and open-ended conversation rather than a static presentation of the authors' points of view ... a very lively and engaging read. -- Judith Ryser * Urban Design *
I thought of my home town, Dublin, while reading Pablo Sendra and Richard Sennett's Designing Disorder: Experiments and Disruptions in the City. Here, the authors explore ethical urban design in an age of privatisation, hostile architecture and widespread surveillance. -- Naoise Dolan * Observer, Best Books of 2020 *
A good public space should offer the possibility of surprise. Sennett and Sendra contrast the idea of the brittle city or the closed city with the idea of the open city: a place that can change as its residents', visitors', and workers' needs change. A building, street, or neighborhood should always remain incomplete, so that it can adapt with the times. . . .worth reading as a guide to post-pandemic urban-space management. * City Journal *
This short, 154-page book, contains thought provoking ideas, philosophies and history regarding experiments and disruptions in an urban environment. -- Kevin Cassidy * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *
